An Cookie HTTP[1] is a small piece of data generated by a web server and stored on a user’s device by a web browser. These cookies are used to store information and track a user’s online activity. They come in various forms, including authentication and tracking cookies. HTTP cookies were first conceptualized by Lou Montulli, drawing inspiration from Unix’s ‘magic cookie’, and the original specification was developed by Netscape in 1994. Cookies can be temporary (session cookies), long-lasting (persistent cookies), secure, or inaccessible to client-side APIs (Http-only cookies). They are instrumental in managing online sessions, personalizing user experiences, and tracking online behavior. However, they come with potential security[2] risks, such as the creation of Supercookies and Zombie cookies. The interaction between a web browser and a server involves the exchange of these cookies, with specific rules and specifications to ensure secure and proper functionality.
HTTP cookies (also called web cookies, Internet cookies, browser cookies, or simply cookies) are small blocks of data created by a servidor web while a user is browsing a sítio Web and placed on the user's computer or other device by the user's navegador web. Cookies are placed on the device used to access a website, and more than one cookie may be placed on a user's device during a session.
Cookies serve useful and sometimes essential functions on the web. They enable web servers to store stateful information (such as items added in the shopping cart in an online store) on the user's device or to track the user's browsing activity (including clicking particular buttons, logging in, or recording which pages were visited in the past). They can also be used to save information that the user previously entered into form fields, such as names, addresses, passwordse payment card numbers for subsequent use.
Authentication cookies are commonly used by web servers to authenticate that a user is logged in, and with which account they are logged in. Without the cookie, users would need to authenticate themselves by logging in on each page containing sensitive information that they wish to access. The security of an authentication cookie generally depends on the security of the issuing website and the user's web browser, and on whether the cookie data is encrypted. Security vulnerabilities may allow a cookie's data to be read by an attacker, used to gain access to user data, or used to gain access (with the user's credentials) to the website to which the cookie belongs (see cross-site scripting e cross-site request forgery for examples).
Tracking cookies, and especially third-party tracking cookies, are commonly used as ways to compile long-term records of individuals' browsing histories — a potential privacy concern that prompted European and U.S. lawmakers to take action in 2011. European law requires that all websites targeting European Union member states gain "informed consent" from users before storing non-essential cookies on their device.